Shōjiki ni Aishimasu
by the pink pastel
Summary: SASUSAKU. Everything was perfect for Haruno Sakura. The sun was up, the birds were chirping, and she was living her dream life. Well that was before her ex-boyfriend from High School moved in next door and decided to screw everything up.
1. Neighbor

Well it has been a long time since I started on a new project. What a refreshing experience. I guess I'm slacking off by postponing the updates of my other fanfictions, but I guess that can't be helped. Haha!

I hope you guys will enjoy this. :)

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**-  
Sh**_**ō**_**jiki ni Aishimasu  
**_I honestly love you_

_-_**  
N E I G H B O R**

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Light rays peaked through creamy curtains as a groan escaped the lips belonging to a body entangled by pink sheets. More groans resounded throughout the pink room as muffled curses followed the groans. Entangling herself from the sheets and sitting upright on the side of her bed, Haruno Sakura stretched out her arms, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

Glancing at the digital clock on her night stand, her eyes shot open; revealing emerald orbs as she cursed. Jumping up to her feet, the young woman dashed towards her bathroom and immediately turned the two knobs under the shower head and stepped under it as tear-shaped droplets pelted her skin like rain.

From outside, the girl failed to notice her phone vibrating beside her digital alarm clock on the nightstand that read 7:45 a.m. The call that she had failed to answer was left unattended as the battery of her phone started blinking, indicating that she only had one bar left. Unfortunately, this was all missed by the girl in the tiled bathroom.

A few minutes later, out came the pink haired girl as she cursed, tripping on one of the rugs outside the bathroom door. More curses here and occasionally there, the rosette haired female had finished buttoning up the last few buttons of her white long sleeved blouse, and zipping up her skirt that ended a few inches above her knees, Haruno Sakura grabbed her purse and cellphone off the nightstand whilst slipping on her red pumps, she dashed out the door with a slam on her way out.

Padding through the hallway of the apartment complex she lived in, Sakura didn't bother looking at her surroundings as she stuffed all her belongings held in her hand in her purse. Stopping right in front of the elevator and pushing the down button, Sakura side-stepped as two men stepped outside the elevator carrying large moving boxes.

'_What a great way to start the day.' _She thought sarcastically as she glanced down at her wrist watch only for her eyes to widen. It was already 8 a.m. sharp. "Awesome. I'm late." She muttered as she held out her hand, calling a taxi.

**.**

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**.**

"Argh, where is that forehead girl? She's late!" Yamanaka Ino huffed. Flipping one of her long blond bangs out of her eyes, she leaned back on her lazy chair. Being the main front receptionist of Konohagakure Iryō Byōin otherwise known as Konohagakure Medical Hospital; the most popular medicinal hospital all over Japan. Her job was quite tiring as countless of people walked by the front doors each minute of each hour of each day. The place was always bustling with chatter of people here and there, and to top that stressful experience, her bestfriend since High School, Haruno Sakura's tardiness made her worry even more.

Glancing at the huge hospital wall clock hanging by the side of the receptionist counter, Ino sighed as she rubbed her temples. The aspiring top doctor of the hospital was running late, _again_. Other than the head of their hospital, Tsunade, who taught Sakura all she needed to know in the medical field personally herself, and who possessed quite a temper when it came to stuff she did not want to hear, Yamanaka Ino was not coping well with this information, either. Hopefully the head was in a good mood today.

A few more taps of her recently done French tips, Ino huffed one last time before turning towards the elderly woman who appeared right in front of her inquiring certain things.

The clock had ticked ten minutes after that, and still no sign of the emerald eyed girl.

"Calm down, Ino. I'm sure she'll be here soon." a soft voice spoke from in front of her. Looking up from her seated state, Hyuuga Hinata stood behind the receptionist counter with a small smile on her face. The soft spoken girl who took on the job of a nurse in the hospital reassured.

"I know, I know, Hinata. But her tardiness is not acceptable, and you know that." Ino said as her azure eyes flickered towards the front doors then back towards the girl in front of her. It was true, though. The young doctor had the habit of waking up late, thus endangering herself in the mornings with all the rushed routines she had to do before proceeding towards the hospital.

And just as that was spoken, the two glass doors slid open as a gush of wind blew in along with the running form accompanied by a blur of pink.

"And there she is,"

The blur of pink stopped right in front of the receptionist as two hands flew up and landed on the front desk. Panting, Sakura stated, "I'm here."

"Well it's about time, forehead girl." Ino had stated, standing up and placing both hands on her hips, the girl's eyes clearly yelled out, _'Explain!'_

"It's a long story, but I'll have to save it for you at lunch," grabbing her clipboard off of the desk, Sakura pulled on her doctor's coat that she had slung over her arm on the way towards the hospital a few moments ago, and walked towards the first room listed on the clipped paper.

"Thankfully Tenten wasn't here. She would have scolded that girl." Ino had stated with an amused tone. The elder girl of the four by a year had the tendency to act all motherly on the three younger girls. Despite the fact that the four were close as two magnets, that still didn't mean that any one of them should allow the other to slip in her duties.

"Well, I guess I'm off to check on some other patients. I'll see you at lunch as well, Ino-chan." Hinata had waved goodbye as she walked off.

With the long dark blue haired girl's back turned towards Ino, the shy girl had failed to witness the shocked state of the female blond that had been caused by the new person that walked in the hospital.

Gushes by other girls around, fellow nurses, patients, and female members of different families that were there to visit said patients resounded throughout the first floor of the hospital.

.

.

.

Shuffling of papers could be heard behind the closed door of Haruno Sakura's office. Glancing towards her cellphone's blinking battery on the top screen of the LCD screen, Sakura rolled her eyes at her own stupidity.

"Seriously, forgetting to charge my own phone over the night? Pathetic." she muttered to herself as she arranged more papers on her messed up desk.

It was already lunch time, and Sakura grabbed her wallet and other necessities she needed on her way out of her office. It was time to meet up with the guys at the lunchroom.

Arriving at said destination, Sakura had spotted the familiar buns of one of her companions who sat across her timid friend with long moonlight colored locks.

"There you are, Sakura!" Tenten ― her friend with her brunette hair tied into two buns exclaimed. Pulling one of the four chairs that came with their usual table spot, Sakura hadn't failed to notice the unoccupied seat right beside her. "Where's Ino?" she questioned with raised eyebrows. The blond girl was _neve_r tardy for lunch. _That_ you can be sure of.

Shrugging, Tenten proceeded to pick on her salad as if something was bothering her. But before Sakura could voice out her thoughts, Hinata had spoken, "I heard she was dealing with an important patient or something," the soft-spoken girl had said, taking a sip from her cup filled with milk tea.

"I see." Sakura replied. Recalling what she was supposed to do a few moments ago, the pinkette turned towards their other friend, "Something troubling you, Tenny?" using her friend's pet name to lighten up the atmosphere, Sakura cocked her head to the side visibly making it clear that her friend's distress was affecting her as well.

Sitting up straight and sighing, the brunette's gaze drifted off to a distance as she replied with a sad tone, "Well, it's just about Neji."

The two other girls had shot each other worried glances as the topic switched to their friend's boyfriend. "What about my cousin, Ten-chan?" Hinata had inquired.

"Lately he's been acting…off. He's always out, and it seems like he's been hanging out with the boys quite more now than ever." Hinata's eyes immediately lightened up by the knowledge. "Oh, don't worry about that, Tenten." she reassured with a smile.

"What do you mean by that? He's my boyfriend for goodness sake! Who knows what he could be doing during the duration he's out." Tenten snapped; the stress getting to her as the thin line of her patience broke. She didn't mean it to happen. She never meant to snap at Hinata.

The shy girl recoiled back. Tenten's sudden outburst surprising her. The four had been friends since High School, and even then she brunette before them had never snapped without a valid reason. It was the stress, she knew it.

Smiling, Hinata responded, "Ten-chan, I heard from Naruto that the boys were dealing with something important right now. Apparently a friend of theirs just came back and they're helping him move in. That's all. There's nothing to be worried about Ten-chan. My cousin wouldn't cheat on you, don't worry."

Hazel eyes softened, "Hinata, I didn't mean to―" halting herself as the girl beside her shook her head in understanding, the older girl smiled and proceeded to hug her friend.

"Now that _that's_ over, let's just dig in without the pig and enjoy our lunch, no?" Sakura stated in an amused tone as the tension that had been present moments ago started to diminish into nothing.

.

.

.

Walking towards the main entrance of the apartment complex building Sakura lived in after stepping out of her taxi, she had let out a sigh in the night air as the fatigue from work today was slowly catching up to her.

Passing through the main lobby and riding the elevator up to the top floor where her apartment was located. Just as she was about to grab her phone in her purse as it began ringing, Sakura's gaze drifted down to the main hall as she noticed the open door of one of her neighbors.

'_Must be the new people moving in._' she thought, flipping her cellphone,

"Hai, Moshi moshi?"

"_Sakura! I've been trying to find you all day in the hospital! You would never believe who I saw this morning!"_ Ino's excited voice boomed in from the other side of the line.

"Gosh, Ino! You seriously might end up making me deaf one day with that megaphone voice of yours! And too busy to miss lunch? Seriously?"

"_Yes, yes! An interesting person visited the hospital this morning! Apparently said person arrived today from the country that said person moved to years ago."_

"Who? Aoyama Thelma?" Sakura replied, noticing a presence behind her as she noticed a figure loom behind her. Getting cautious, the pinkette's heartbeat raced as she was about to turn to identify the mysterious person behind her.

"_Even better!"_

"Just tell me." Sakura said in a strong voice, turning around to face the figure. Her eyes widening as the battery died after Ino had revealed the person that made her so hyped up.

"_Uchiha Sasuke!"_

**

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T o B e C o n t i n u e d

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**

Alrighty. Just in case you guys were wondering, the **T o B e C o n t i n u e d** sign at the end stick together is _intentional_. I'm trying out new formats for my fics. :D This is more of the _prologue_ of the story, that's why it's short. The following chapters will be much longer than this. :)

I did this in just two days, and I think I'm quite rusty, since I haven't done introductions to multi-chaptered fanfictions in a long time. Hopefully it didn't turn out that bad, but I guess you guys will just have to tell me, onegai? :3

Yusshh. Well I'm off to do other things. I think my inspiration muse came back, since I've been getting tons of ideas lately. Bahh, but anyways, I hope you guys liked it. Please don't just add it on your story alert or in your favorites and what not. I hope you guys will take the time to review as well.

Mm. That's it, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Have a nice weekend! :D


	2. Better Off

Blarghh. So I honestly tried to write this down, seeing as it hasn't been updated in quite a long while, and it's still in it's earlier stages.

Short, but I just had to get their encounter done with. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it. :)

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. . .

**Sh****ōjiki ni Aishimasu  
**_I honestly love you_

**_. . . _**

**BETTER OFF**

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"I'm honestly going to kill that pig," grumbling to herself, Sakura violently plugged her cellphone's charger into the nearest socket outlet.

Her encounter with a certain dark haired male a few moments ago only left her with an astonished, yet completely confused feeling inside.

Uchiha Sasuke.

When she thought of him, bittersweet moments between the two in the past plagued her thoughts. And no matter how hard she tried to shake it off and forget about things, the ugly truth still remained. After they had broken things off between them, it took her quite a while - a long while to fully get over him.

"Pick up, pick up." Sakura muttered to herself as her fingers drummed on her nightstand.

A few more rings could be heard on the other line before a groggy voice replaced the constant ringing.

A yawn. _"Hello?"_

"Ino!" a pause, "Were you... sleeping?"

At this, Sakura glanced at the alarm clock in front of her. It was half past midnight already, and out of her haste to call the blonde, she had completely forgot about the time.

_"Gee, Sakura. Whatever would give you _that_ idea? The fact that it's probably about 12:30 in the morning?"_

"Sarcasm noted. Think of this as payback for what happened to me today,"

Silence met the end of the line. Sakura could almost imagine a smirk crawling it's way up her blonde friend's lips.

_"This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain Uchiha, now would it?"_

"Well, I guess it _wouldn't have been _if _someone_ had told me about it in the first place!" Sakura ground out.

_"I was supposed to! It's your phone that died on me!"_ Ino defended. It was true, though. And even before that, Ino was looking forward to breaking the news to her female companions over lunch, or quite possibly even after it, _during _their shift in the hospital, over breaktime. But _nooooo_. It just so happened that this day, out of _all days_ her assistance was needed. People sure picked the wrong time to check-in all at once.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," rubbing her temples, Sakura continued, "I met him today, Ino. We're _neighbors_, dammit! He and I... we live in the same building. Same floor, even!"

_"Is that... fate, I hear knocking on your window?"_

An aggravated sigh. "I sure as hell _hope not_, pig. Otherwise my fist will be the only thing doing the knocking around here. And I sure as hell can I assure you that your pretty, little face might not make it out alive in the end," Sakura stated.

_"Ohhh, someone's in a sour mood_,"

"Don't get me started, Ino. You know what happened. Everyone does. Besides, who's to say he's not dating anyone at the moment or anything. Plus, I am not ready to dive into a relationship with him ever again, and I think neither does he. So please, drop the whole fate act."

_"Sakura_,_" _another pause. Sakura held her breath for what was to come. By the tone of her voice, Sakura could guess that her friend was serious now, and that the next thing she said would probably leave Sakura tossing and turning in her bed in thought tonight.

_"Didn't you ever think that this might be the world's way of giving you guys a second chance? Cause maybe you guys weren't ready for the first?"_

"_Or_, this might be one of those _'Don't make the same mistake twice_', type of thing."

Sakura heard a sigh on the other end of the line. Probably out of resignation, or maybe it was just because her friend was tired. Ino was a persistant girl, after all.

_"Whatever you say, Sakura. I'm just telling you to reach out when you're given second chances. It doesn't happen quite often, you know?"_

"I know," Sakura replied quietly.

_"Well, I'll see you at work in the morning then. Oyasuminasai."_

"Goodnight, Ino."

Just as Sakura was about to pull her phone from her ears, and press the _End _button, Ino spoke once again, _"And Sakura, I expect those juicy details of what happened between you and Sasuke in the morning, hm? I love you, goodnight, forehead!"_

_Click._

"Damn," _Just when I thought I had escaped the pain of retelling my awkward experience with Sasuke._

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**.**

"YOU MET SAKURA-CHAN LAST NIGHT?" Naruto shouted as he pointed a finger at the brooding man in front of him.

"Hn."

"What the heck should I interpret that as, teme?"

"Probably that you should stop yelling out to the world that Uchiha Sasuke met his ex-girlfriend. Not a lot of people want to know about his awkward experiences, you know? Well, except for his still-ever-annoying fangirls, that is." Shikamaru stated lazily before eating his beef ramen.

Hearing this, Naruto whipped his head behind him, and observed the other people eating around him as well. Just as Shikamaru had stated earlier, a few heads abruptly turned away as they noticed Naruto's cerulean orbs scanning the area suspiciously. Said heads all belonged to females, and if he'd squint hard enough, he might just spot the dust of blushes on the girls' faces.

"Geez, teme. You'd think that they'd get tired of you. Seriously, what person in their right mind would want to go after a jerk?" Naruto mused aloud, completely oblivious to the dark, onyx orbs that glared at him.

"Shut it, dobe. It's not like I wanted this, either." Sasuke stated, sending a few glares to some courageous fangirls that dared to walk up to them.

"Alright, alright. No need to get Sakura's panties tied in a knot,"

_Glare_.

"What? Knowing you, your encounter last night would have probably ended in the bed." his best friend's glare only intensified at this statement. If looks could kill... well yeah, you know how that line goes.

"Break it up, you guys. Let's not go into uncharted waters here." Sensing the abrupt change of atmosphere in the air, and being the lazy genius he was, Shikamaru immediately broke the start of a situation that would have ended really badly if not avoided.

A screech of a single chair brought their attention to the already standing Uchiha, as they stared at his retreating back.

Sighing, as his shoulders visibly dropped once the comfort room doors which Sasuke had entered earlier closed behind him, Naruto's gaze dropped to the table as he stirred the noodles in his bowl. "I'm only worried for him, you know."

Silence engulfed the table as a figure stirred in his seat. He had been quiet all this time. Had chosen to be wise enough to stay silent and not interject, nor contribute to the situation at hand. "Uzumaki," pale eyes gazed seriously at wide, cerulean orbs.

"If the Uchiha had things he needed to fix with Haruno, then it would be best of you, as his best friend, not to butt in, or make unnecessary remarks. You of all people should know that he is capable of handling things on his own." Neji stated.

And it was true. Things were indeed a mess between Sasuke and Sakura, and it would need serious fixing. But who's to say the two parties involved didn't prefer things as they were? Who's to say that maybe things were better off as they are now than to be tampered with.

But then again, who's to say that things might be better than expected if they _did_ sort things out?

Who knows...

Only the actions done, and the words said will be able to change things from the way they are now.

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_To be continued..._

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Pretty short, I must say.

Like I said, just had to get this over with, so that I can proceed to the present because I can assure you guys that it has _many, many, many, many, many, many_ surprises left in store.

So hopefully I didn't bore you guys outta your minds. First update in a loooong time. Forgive me if I'm rusty. :(

Do review!


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